How to read Hangul? - Basic (Hangul, Hangeul, Korean)

How to Read Hangeul

Beginning and Medial Consonants

Lax (Basic) Consonants		Tense (Doubled) Consonants*		Aspirated Consonants
ㄱ	g as in “girl”	ㄲ	g as in “girl”	ㅋ	k as in “kill”
ㄴ	n as in “nail”
ㄷ	d as in “dog”	ㄸ	d as in “dog”	ㅌ	t as in “top”
ㄹ	l as in “lemon”
ㅁ	m as in “meat”
ㅂ	b as in “boy”	ㅃ	b as in “boy”	ㅍ	p as in “pop”
ㅅ	s as in “sun”	ㅆ	s as in “sun”
ㅇ	no sound			ㅎ	h as in “hat”
ㅈ (     )	j as in “jail”	ㅉ	j as in “jail”	ㅊ (    )	ch as in “cheese”

*Note:  The tense (doubled) consonants have a “stronger” sound than their lax counterparts that cannot be represented with English sounds.  The difference comes from more tension in the mouth and throat while making the sounds.  I still have trouble pronouncing these sounds, too.

Exceptions:  ㅅ and ㅆ take an “sh” sound when they are in front of the ㅣ (“ee” sound) vowel, or any “y-series” vowel (see below).  For example 피시 sounds like “pee shee” instead of “pee see”.

ㄹ makes a kind of “r” sound when it is found between two vowels.  However, the sound is not like the “r” sound in English, but instead like the “r” sound in Spanish in words like “pero”.  For example 파리 (Paris) sounds like “pah ree” instead of “pah lee”.

Ending Consonants

Some consonants take a different sound when they occur at the bottom of a syllable block, at the end of a word.  Fortunately there are only a few possibilities for sounds, so it’s not that hard to remember.  Remember, Koreans do not release consonants at the end of a word, they swallow them.  ㄴ, ㅁ, and ㄹ do not change at the end of a word.

ㄱ, ㄲ, ㅋ	k as in “pick”
ㅂ, ㅃ, ㅍ	p as in “top”
ㄷ, ㄸ, ㅌ, ㅅ, ㅆ, ㅈ, ㅉ, ㅊ	t as in “pot”
ㅇ	ng as in “ring”

Mixed consonants:  Some syllable blocks will have two different consonants on the bottom.  If it is followed by a vowel sound (ex. 앉으세요! “Sit down!”), both consonants are pronounced.  Otherwise, only one of the consonants will be spoken, the other will be silent (ex. 닭 “chicken”).

ㄱ (g)- ㅋ (k)  

ㄴ(n) - ㄷ(d) - ㅌ(t) - ㄹ (r, l)

ㅁ(m) - ㅂ(b)- ㅍ(p)

ㅅ(s) - ㅈ( j ) - ㅊ(ch)

ㅇ(ng) - ㅎ(h)

Vowels

             Vowels are always the second character in a syllable block.  There are 21 different vowels in Korean, but many of them are composites of the basic 8 vowels, so it is easier to remember.

Basic Vowels		“Y series” composite vowels
ㅏ	ah as in “car”	ㅑ	yah as in “yacht”
ㅐ	a as in “bat”or ay as in “day” (end of word only)	ㅒ	ya as in “yak” or yay as in “yay” (end of word only)
ㅓ	aw as in “law” or uh as in “nut”	ㅕ	yaw as in “yawn” or yuh as in “yuck”
ㅔ	eh as in “get” or ay as in “day” (end of word only)	ㅖ	yeh as in “yes” or yay as in “yay” (end of word only)
ㅗ	o as in “go”	ㅛ	yo as in “yo mama!”
ㅜ	oo as in “food”	ㅠ	yoo as in “you”
ㅡ	oo as in “book” (but smile!)
ㅣ	ee as in “feet”

             The following vowels are composites of two of the basic vowels.  Each is still pronounced as only one syllable.

Vowel	Prononciation	Composed of
ㅘ	wah as in “watt”	ㅗ & ㅏ
ㅙ	way as in “way”	ㅗ & ㅐ
ㅝ	waw as in “walk” or wuh as in “won”	ㅜ & ㅓ
ㅞ	weh as in “wet” or way as in “way” (end of word only)	ㅜ & ㅔ
ㅟ	wee as in “wee”	ㅜ & ㅣ
ㅢ	i as in “light” (but smile!)	ㅡ & ㅣ
ㅚ	weh as in “wet” or way as in “way” (end of word only)	ㅗ & ㅣ (Yes, I know this doesn’t make any sense!)

Practice words click here

Table - 1 

Ganadara Alphabet

ㄱ

ㄴ

ㄷ

ㄹ

ㅁ

ㅂ

ㅅ

ㅇ

ㅈ

ㅊ

ㅋ

ㅌ

ㅍ

ㅎ

ㅏ

가

나

다

라

마

바

사

아

자

차

카

타

파

하

ga

na

da

ra

ma

ba

sa

A

ja

cha

ka

ta

pa

Ha

ㅑ

갸

냐

댜

랴

먀

뱌

샤

야

쟈

챠

캬

탸

퍄

햐

gya

nya

dya

rya

mya

bya

sya

ya

jya

chya

kya

tya

pya

hya

ㅓ

거

너

더

러

머

버

서

어

저

처

커

터

퍼

허

geo

neo

deo

reo

meo

beo

seo

eo

jeo

cheo

keo

teo

peo

heo

ㅕ

겨

녀

뎌

려

며

벼

셔

여

져

쳐

켜

텨

펴

혀

gyeo

nyeo

dyeo

ryeo

myeo

byeo

syeo

yeo

jyeo

chyeo

kyeo

tyeo

pyeo

hyeo

ㅗ

고

노

도

로

모

보

소

오

조

초

코

토

포

호

go

no

do

ro

mo

bo

so

O

jo

cho

ko

to

po

Ho

ㅛ

교

뇨

됴

료

묘

뵤

쇼

요

죠

쵸

쿄

툐

표

효

gyo

nyo

dyo

ryo

myo

byo

syo

yo

jyo

chyo

kyo

tyo

pyo

hyo

ㅜ

구

누

두

루

무

부

수

우

주

추

쿠

투

푸

후

gu

nu

du

ru

mu

bu

su

U

ju

chu

ku

tu

pu

Hu

ㅠ

규

뉴

듀

류

뮤

뷰

슈

유

쥬

츄

큐

튜

퓨

휴

gyu

nyu

dyu

ryu

myu

byu

syu

yu

jyu

chyu

kyu

tyu

pyu

hyu

ㅡ

그

느

드

르

므

브

스

으

즈

츠

크

트

프

흐

geu

neu

deu

reu

meu

beu

seu

eu

jeu

cheu

keu

teu

peu

heu

ㅣ

기

니

디

리

미

비

시

이

지

치

키

티

피

히

gi

ni

di

ri

mi

bi

si

I

ji

chi

ki

ti

pi

hi

Source : http://www.koreanletter.net

Table - 2